Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train

Mugen Train (2020) takes place almost entirely on a moving train and became the most watched film in Japanese history. Tanjiro and his friends board a train where more than forty people have disappeared. With them is a senior swordsman named Rengoku. Then every passenger is put to sleep and each falls into their own dream. The first half happens inside those dreams, and the trap is that the dreams are not bad but lovely. Each person is given back what they lost, and to wake they must refuse that happiness. The second half is a single fight. The Rengoku section is the most discussed moment in the series and carries the film's entire emotional weight. The studio is ufotable; the fire and water effects go beyond even the television series. The box office story matters on its own. It opened in October 2020, mid pandemic, with cinemas at reduced capacity, and broke the all time record in Japan, passing Spirited Away. It became the highest grossing film in the world for 2020, almost entirely from one country. Without the series the story does not hold; the film continues directly from the first season. It runs 117 minutes. Good for: anime, action, and followers of the series. Less good for: it makes no sense without the series and the violence is bloody.